Asmet Salud denounces 3 congressmen for alleged undue pressure – Investigative Unit

“Would you pay me a wallet to some hospitals that I have there?”; “No, I pass the list and best staff to avoid misunderstandings and bad shit.”

These are some of the phrases that can be heard in a 16-minute audio, revealed exclusively by EL TIEMPO, which unleashed a storm in the health sector this Thursday and that this Friday will be delivered to the Supreme Court of Justice and the Attorney General.

(We invite you to read: They record a congressman asking EPS for payments and talking about contracts)

The conversation took place in a cafe at the El Dorado airport between the liberal representative of Risaralda Juan Carlos Reinales and the manager of the EPS Asmet Salud, Gustavo Aguilar.

(It may interest you: The story of the fall of the powerful senator Eduardo Pulgar Daza)

Reinales admitted to EL TIEMPO that that was his voice and that, in effect, he met with Aguilar last November 6 to specify some commitments of the EPS with the public hospital network of his department, for which he has been advocating for months. .

However, he stated that the audio was edited, that he never spoke of personal income or commissions and that he was going to file a defamation complaint.

(You may be interested: The ‘little spin’ that would cost Senator Pulgar 12 years in prison)

“They want to hurt me because I am carving, being critical on the subject of health. But I have no idea who recorded me. My role and my task is to ensure the welfare of the hospital network and that is what I have done all this time. It is a non-personal institutional task, as you confirmed after speaking with department officials. It is a common front for these EPS to pay the hospital network ”, explained the congressman.

Manipulated audio?

And he added: “If they recorded me, it is because they want to hurt me and what they did was manipulate that conversation. In that part where the commission is discussed, it is cut off, accommodated, in such a way as to give that feeling that I am pursuing personal gains (…) the only commission that I refer to in my conversations and interviews is the Seventh Commission , in charge of health ”.

But the manager of Asmet Salud revealed to this newspaper that he had already filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against Reinales, for alleged undue pressure.

(In context: Patient fined for double guardianship to EPS who denied medication)

They denounce three before the Court

EL TIEMPO established that in addition to attaching the recording, the accusations extend to two other congressmen, whose names it did not want to confirm.

This newspaper learned that they have also had to do with subpoenas to the House of Representatives to various EPS and even to the superintendent of Health, Fabio Aristizábal.

(Also: Who is the representative who was recorded asking EPS for payment?)

“He (Reinales) summoned me. He told me that he wanted to talk to me about various issues, one of them related to the San Jorge hospital issue and he presented me with a recommendation in front of some providers that he was going to ask me for, how we would help him with hiring and payment issues ” the EPS manager assured EL TIEMPO.

According to Aguilar, the contract was for two hospitals: “So that we could modify an issue of a contract that we have with the San Rafael Hospital, which is private, and give them back to San Jorge and Dosquebradas.”

And, both in the dialogue with this newspaper, and in the complaint –installed by lawyer Jaime Lombana–, he assured that he felt pressured.

(We invite you to read: They capture 2 judges and a prosecutor per case that splashes Senator Pulgar)

“He told me if I could help him with payments to some lenders known to him. He told me that he represented the region and that he knew the providers (…). He gave me to understand that they helped him in political matters, that as a member of parliament they were people who were interested in helping, ”says Aguilar.

And the criminal lawyer Lombana adds that “a congressman, as a public servant, who requests contracts or favors from a private person where he receives commission, commits the crime of concussion”.

According to the lawyer, in a debate after the meeting at the Bogota airport cafe, Congressman Reinales compared Asmet Salud to an EPS intervention, in a clear constraint mechanism.

(On the subject: Controversy by order of Supersalud to investigate 950 employees)

In fact, chats will be attached to the complaint in which, according to Aguilar, the representative asked him about the contracts with the two public hospitals in Risaralda.

‘Undue pressure’

But the representative is emphatic that his commitment to his region is to manage payments to the public network.

In fact, he asked that both the manager of the Hospital San Jorge and the secretary of Health of the department be consulted, who attested that they have asked the congressman to manage with Asmet Salud both contracts and pending payments that affect the cash flow of the hospital network.

As they indicated, the representative was approached in the face of failed efforts they had made, including through letters and meetings with the EPS.

But Asmet Salud assures that it had already warned them that the selection of hospitals was a purely technical issue that required requirements.

And he adds that while the representative asked them privately for contracts and payments to hospitals, in Congress he attacked them.

(See here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)

The EPS complaint will be sent to the disciplinary field. In the meantime, the representative will request an investigation and will proceed with the defamation complaint.

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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@UinvestigativaET